1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic material. More particularly, it relates to a color photosensitive material which is so designed as to prevent dye images eventually obtained by development from fading or discoloration and noncolor-developed portions (hereafter referred to as "white background") from discoloration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally photographic images formed by a silver halide photographic material does not keep its quality permanently, but it deteriorates as time lapses during preservation. This is particularly true of color photography having images made up of azomethine dyes or indoaniline dyes formed by a reaction of a coupler with oxidation products of the aromatic primary amine developing agents. Such color photography undergoes discoloration or fading of dye images and discoloration of a white background when exposed to light for a prolonged period of time or preserved under heat and humidity exposure conditions.
The deterioration of the quality of image is detrimental to a recording material. In order to prevent the image from deterioration, there have been made a large number of proposals. The most effective proposal among them is to use a color image stabilizer in combination with a coupler. A phenolic compound is the typical example of such a compound. The compound having the ether linkage at the p-position is relatively high in the prevention of discoloration effect. Examples of such compounds are alkoxy- or aryloxyphenols, hydroxycoumarans, hydroxychromans, and hydroxyspirochromans as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,432,300, 3,573,050, 3,574,627, 3,698,909, 3,764,337, 3,930,866, 4,120,723, 4,113,488, 4,264,720, and 4,388,404; British Pat. No. 2,066,975 (B); West Germany Pat. (OLS) Nos. 2,146,668 and 2,726,283; Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 14023/1976, 124926/1976, and 53321/1978; and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 20537/1981. 40817/1981, and 10539/1984.
Another compounds known in the art are phenolic compounds having the ether linkage at the p-position in which the hydroxyl group is etherified or silyletherified, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,155,765, 4,254,216, and 4,279,990.
Although these compounds are effective in preventing color images from fading and/or discoloration, they are still unsatisfactory as a color image stabilizer which must satisfy several requirements for photography. Some of them are less in effectiveness and deleterious to the hue even though they are effective against discoloration, and others cause fogging, poor dispersion, or crystallization.
Among the phenolic compounds having the ether linkage at the p-position, .alpha.-tocopherol is known as a natural antioxidant while 6-hydroxychroman is known as a compound effective for the prevention of discoloration as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,432,300 and 3,698,909; and Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 10539/1984.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,495 discloses compounds having hydroquinone at the 2-position of the chroman ring, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,720 discloses compounds having hydroquinone diether at the 2-position of the chroman ring.
As a result of the recent improvement in color photographic materials which require more sophisticated properties in the color photography, the compounds disclosed in the above-mentioned patents are considered to be unsatisfactory in the preservability of photographic images. In other words, the compounds are not effective to prevent the change of photographic image density, the change of color balance of yellow, magenta, and cyan after discoloration, and the staining of the white background which occur due to light, heat, and moisture during preservation of the photography.